India to play three ODIs and five T20Is in Sri Lanka, says BCCI president Sourav Ganguly

BCCI president Sourav Ganguly has indicated India will travel to Sri Lanka for a limited-overs series this season. While the exact window for this series is as yet unclear, Ganguly said it would consist of three ODIs and five T20Is.

As per the ICC's Future Tours Programme (FTP), India are scheduled to play three T20Is in Sri Lanka in July. India were also due to play three T20Is and three ODIs on the island last June, but that tour was cancelled amid the pandemic.

If the FTP were to be followed, the possible composition of the Indian side that will play the Sri Lanka series also remains unclear. A 20-man Test squad along with four reserve players will leave for England on June 2 for the World Test Championship final against New Zealand, and is expected to play intra-squad matches after that leading up to a five-Test series against England starting on August 4. Given quarantine norms in England and Sri Lanka, it is likely India will field a completely different squad - minus several first-choice players - in Sri Lanka if the tour happens in July.

Sri Lanka too have cricket lined up in England in June, with three ODIs and three T20Is scheduled for June 23 to July 4.

Ganguly mentioned the Sri-Lanka-India series when asked in an interview with Sportstar if there was a possibility of the the remainder of IPL 2021 being played in England on either side of India's Test series there. "No," Ganguly said. "India is supposed to go to Sri Lanka for three ODIs and five T20Is. There are lots of organisational hazards like 14-day quarantine.

"It [the IPL] can't happen in India [either]. This quarantine is tough to handle. Too early to say how we can find a slot to complete the IPL."

Following the conclusion of the England Test series on September 14, India have another short opening in their schedule ahead of the T20 World Cup that is set to begin sometime in mid-October. The global event is supposed to be held in India, but given a particularly deadly second wave of the pandemic is currently raging across the country - amid which the IPL's biosecure bubble was breached prompting its indefinite postponement last week - it remains a possibility that the event will be shifted.

Sri Lanka and a group of England counties have both offered to host the remainder of the IPL, with the UAE - which hosted the tournament in 2020 - also an option.